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Monday, July 02, 2012

Celebrating Design at Chinatown's Chung King Alley

Chinatown's Chung King Alley has transformed in recent years as a new generation of galleries moved in alongside the old-school antique shops and restaurants. We took the Gold Line to Chinatown on Saturday to check out the 2nd Annual Chinatown Design Night, part of the Los Angeles Design Festival.

Coagula Curatorial - Cartoonist Jim Caron will be hosting a book signing for his latest work “I AM NOT A TYPO.”

Fifth Floor - C-town’s resident purveyor of accoutrements for the modern life will be showcasing a new collection of letterpress and screen prints by LA artists Charlie Carroll, David Lomeli, and Leslie Ross-Robertson.

Flock Shop – Featuring the appropriately-named new collection The End is Only the Beginning, with the work of 13 participating artists from around the world.

Strangeways Academy – This collaborative graphic design studio will be opening its doors to show Sound Codes, a new collection of work by Amy Fortunato and Lee Noble.

Preen – If you missed this creative brood on the de LaB design-n-dim-sum ride, this is open house and another opportunity to check out their outstanding interior design and architecture studio.

Osceola Refetoff - Pop into this photography studio to check out a new interactive light sculpture by Leif Maginnis called ArtStrobe.

Some highlights from our night in Chinatown:

The new Exhale Unlimited gallery opens with a mission: Everything at this Saturday's exhibition came from artists who are either homeless or disabled.

At the Exhale gallery: Reps from the Waterbar LA brand of flavored waters -- among them, Apple Pie water and PB&J water -- showed off their product.

While most of the storefronts on Chung King Road are now art galleries, Fong's (which imports Chinese artwork) remains.

The Happy Lion gallery

L.A. graffiti crew West Coasts Artists, which began back in 1985, has never had a full-fledged art exhibit -- until now. We checked out the show on Saturday during the design show; read more about it here.